November 20, 2019 |
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San Diego Education Fund
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A big thank you to the San Diego Education Fund and all they do to support or current and future teachers! Click here to learn more about this amazing organization.
Justina Estrada graduated from Scripps Ranch High School in 1997. At the time, her high school counselor, Jane Morrill, recommended that she apply for a San Diego Education Fund (SDEF) scholarship to help her reach her academic goals of becoming a teacher and a counselor. As a first generation college student with no financial support from home, this scholarship allowed her the opportunity to focus on her studies. She was able to graduate with her BA degree and teaching credential from CSUSM, and in 2013 she received a Master’s Degree in Educational Counseling with a PPS credential. She is now a high school counselor at Scripps Ranch High School, her alma mater, alongside her mentor and fellow counselor, Jane Morrill.
Christina Conley was admitted to the SDEF scholars program her senior year of high school. She had heard about it from her teacher at Patrick Henry, as her teacher encouraged future teachers to apply. Christina's college experience is due in large part to this scholarship and the counseling that she received in this program. With the help of this scholarship she received an Education Specialist Credential for Mild/Moderate disabilities and a Master's degree in Education from San Diego State University. She is now an Education Specialist at Rosa Parks Elementary School.
According to the study by the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning, a teacher shortage crisis is looming due to the decreasing number of Californians seeking to become teachers and an aging teacher population nearing retirement. We also know that student achievement is markedly improved when teachers have similar backgrounds with their students.
SDEF believes that education provides the basis for individual opportunity and economic vitality. To bring that mission to life, SDEF provides scholarships, mentoring and counseling to first generation, ethnically diverse college students to become teachers, scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians in San Diego. These scholarship awards are renewable annually based on satisfactory academic progress towards an undergraduate degree.
Applications for a STEM scholarship and a Future Teacher scholarship are open now, and will remain open through February 28, 2020. Please visit SDEF's Website for more information and to apply.
https://sdusdoss.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-san-diego-education-fund.html
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Women in BioTech |
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On Wednesday November 13th, 275 students from our high schools participated in the Women in BioTech event at the Salk Institute. San Diego Unified was represented by Hoover, Clairemont, Crawford, Mira Mesa, Kearny, San Diego, Serra, and University High School.
Women in BioTech was the first STEAM Leadership Series event of the 2019-2020 school year and was sponsored by the San Diego Foundation. The participants were inspired by Dr. Karen Nelson who shared her journey of growing up in Jamaica and becoming the President of the J. Craig Venter Institute.
A panel of diverse female speakers shared their experiences and reflected on the turning points in their careers as they pursued their passions to achieve success.
The students in the audience asked the panel for advice they would give their younger selves, barriers they overcame, and how they dealt with rejection.
The participants walked away truly inspired and with confidence to re-imagine what might be possible in the years ahead!
Click here to read the article covering the event from the Union Tribune.
https://sdusdoss.blogspot.com/2019/11/women-in-biotech.html
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King Tide Experience |
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The League of Extraordinary Scientists and Engineers (LXS) have partnered with the J.Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) and Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) to bring students from Encanto ES, Jefferson ES, Johnson ES, Washington ES, and Webster ES to visit the La Jolla tide pools between November 2019 and February 2020.
The King Tide Experience will allow students to explore tide pools alongside oceanographers, microbiologists, and other scientists. The participants learn about king tides, tidal zones, and view macrofauna that are present in the pools.
The 4th and 5th graders also have a chance to look for sharks, bat rays, seals, and other species from the SIO pier! The Scientists demonstrate how to perform a plankton tow and discuss how and why we collect organisms.
Students are able to examine ocean organisms in the J.Craig Venter Mobile lab under high powered microscopes. The microscopes allow students to visualize what a plankton tow looks like and any water that is collected in the tide pools.
Thank you to our partners at LXS, JCVI, and OIS for inviting our students to participate!
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Strengths at Work |
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On November 7th, the seniors at Kearny Digital Media and Design embarked on some self exploration to prepare themselves for the next stage of their college and career journeys. Candice Fee, Program Manager for the Office of School Innovation, led students through taking the Clifton Strengths Finder Assessment in order to help students discover their areas of greatest strength and how they can put those strengths to work to develop successful futures. The assessment asks a series of questions that reveal the way students naturally think, feel, and behave. Each student gets a personalized report of their top five strengths. Dailyly Castillo, a senior at Kearny DMD, said what she most enjoyed about the Strengths Finder test was, “how much more you are able to learn and understand about yourself. When taking the test it described me using these 5 strengths which are belief, responsibility, restorative, adaptability, and ideation. I would have never chosen these words to describe myself, but after further reading and reflection, I could see how I use these skills and don’t even notice.” The assessment really helps students develop a clearer picture of who they are and put words to ideas the students are developing about themselves.
After discovering each student’s strengths, Ms. Fee led the students through a series of activities in which they experienced what it felt like to use their strengths to complete a task. Stephanie Clay, English teacher and Senior Internship Coordinator at Kearny DMD observed, “When students got into groups according to their strengths, it was interesting to see the students notice who among them shared their strengths and who had different strengths. Each group cooperated, communicated, and solved problems in its own way. It was really beneficial for students to be aware of themselves experiencing what it feels like to use that strength to complete a task. I witnessed a lot of ah-ha moments happening.” When the activities were complete, students had a better understanding of who they are and how their strengths can impact their future. “The activities helped prepare me for what's next in my life because whatever job I want to pursue in the future, I know that for me to learn and grow I have to do something that's more hands on rather than just listening and writing things down,” reflects Vincent Castillo, senior at Kearny DMD.
As seniors prepare for graduation, each student at DMD presents a Defense of Learning during which students defend their academic and personal growth through the lens of critical thinking, innovative thinking, the production process, civic engagement, and college and career readiness. Part of this growth includes being able to incorporate and reflect upon their unique strengths, how they use them, and, ultimately, which college and career choices will best suit them.
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Discover Your Drive |
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San Diego Miramar College hosted high school students from San Diego Unified School District CCTE Automotive programs to take part in the second annual Discover Your Drive event. Approximately 150 students participated in hands-on demonstrations in the Aviation, Automotive and Diesel Technology labs for the day. This unique opportunity allows high school students to test drive college for the day, and experience a day in the life of a college student.
Students rotated through three college workshops taught by college professors and received information on pursuing and obtaining a college degree in one of the many opportunities Miramar College offers. Students will have the opportunity to return to campus in the spring of 2020 for the national signing day which is designed to help students make a seamless transition to a post-secondary education.
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PBMS Welcoming their Sixth Graders |
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Pacific Beach Middle School has a very special way to welcome their sixth graders! Seventh and eighth grader students write them a letter telling them what to expect, and reminding them not to be anxious or apprehensive about middle school. Hundreds of letters to the new 6th graders decorate the walls on one side of the hallway, and on the other side are posters from the sixth graders depicting their high level emotions coming into middle school. The letters told the students not to worry about too much work, that the cafeteria food was good, and that the teachers were pretty cool. On the other hand, the posters showed the mixed feelings of the new 6th graders such as: "Am I in the right class," "Will my teacher be nice," and "Are all the students looking at me?"
The validation of what the students are feeling is the first step in empowering them to move forward, and the letters from the upperclassmen motivate them as they enter the new middle school world. As a visitor to the school, you get a feeling of acceptance and welcome; the exact feelings you would want as you enter a new and unfamiliar place.
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Kearny BST Students Finish Rady Children's Hosiptal Rotations! |
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Recently 25 seniors completed their hospital rotations at Rady Children’s Hospital. These students experienced 2 separate rotations in a different department at Rady. Students shadowed a doctor or nurse in departments such as: Radiology, NICU, Cardiology, Integrative Medicine, and Social Services.
Students feel they gained a deeper understanding of the day to day experiences of the professionals that they worked with. One student said, “I found this internship with Rady Children’s Hospital very beneficial. This allowed me the opportunity to see what a physician does on an average day. I also had the ability to solidify the career path in which I wish to follow, which is the medical field. Overall, I really appreciate the work that physicians do and I can not wait to someday become one.”
The current 11th grade students are now starting to go out on their “community rotations" where they will perform community service in the healthcare field in an effort to get prepared for their hospital rotations next year. Thank you to the amazing staff at Rady Children’s hospital for making this possible for the students!
https://sdusdoss.blogspot.com/2019/11/kearny-bst-students-finish-radys.html
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Learning Grows in School Gardens |
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Literature comes alive in Carson STEAM Magnet’s garden as students learn about the nutritional benefits of different parts of plants that we can eat. Mrs. Prince, our resident Food Corps Service Member, reads I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child, and asks students to make connections between the food growing in the garden, the food in our cafeteria, and the food on their dinner plates. Students think about the parts of the plants they choose at lunch in the salad bar and ask, “Am I eating… a root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit, or seed?”
Meanwhile up the road at Linda Vista STEAM Magnet School, third grade students learn about plant parts and participate in preparing healthy snacks in the garden with our FoodCorps volunteer Julie Prince.
Across campus, fourth graders continue their STEAM unit on Erosion and Weathering by exploring the question: How does understanding how land is made and how it has changed over time help us prepare for our future? As part of their unit, they employ the processes scientists use to analyze phenomena and examine samples of different soils around campus to explore their properties and how they tie into erosion problems here at school.
https://sdusdoss.blogspot.com/2019/11/learning-grows-in-school-gardens.html
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The Art of Blue Technology |
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San Diego’s Blue Tech Week is here and Montgomery’s Monty Wolves are part of the celebration. BlueTech Week is all about the companies and the people driving the sustainable Blue Economy. It's the annual event where hundreds of senior international participants gather in San Diego to highlight collaboration and innovation in sustainable ocean and water technologies and the entrepreneurs making it happen.
The Maritime Alliance says San Diego has one of the largest clusters of technology firms specializing in ocean/hydro applications in the country, thanks to the large U.S. Navy presence in the region and research centers such as UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
A highlight of the weeklong event will be the Blue Tech Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony with keynote speaker, world-renown surf photographer and San Diego native, Aaron Chang.
Montgomery Middle STEAM Magnet students have created artwork for the event that is based on the motif of a message in a bottle. Each image draws upon the theme of “I dream of a world…” and will focus on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to transform our world. The final pieces will be inserted in glass bottles and serve as the centerpieces of Blue Tech week’s Gala. Kearny High School students have designed the centerpieces.
The 11th Annual Blue Tech Week runs from November 18th through the 22nd.
https://sdusdoss.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-art-of-blue-technology.html
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STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES |
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Grief Support Groups Available for SDUSD Students and Families
Children and teens who are struggling with feelings of grief and loss after the death of a significant person in their life are invited to join the Grief Support Groups at the Children's Bereavement Center in Mission Valley. There is no cost to participate.
Sessions are ninety minutes and are facilitated by trained childhood bereavement professionals from The Elizabeth Hospice. These are held bimonthly throughout the school year. Children learn about grief and loss, develop coping skills, share their grief story, and connect with others who are facing similar circumstances.
Parents and guardians meet in a separate group that runs concurrent with the children's group. For more information or to apply, visit this website or contact The Elizabeth Hospice at grievingchildren@ehospice.org or 760.796.3705.
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Parent Information Night: December 5, 2019
Please join us on December 5, 2019 from 6:00pm- 7:30pm at Miramar College to learn about the benefits of participating in the 2020 National Career Education Signing Day. Families will learn how students can attend Miramar College for free, what the San Diego Promise Program is about, and be given the opportunity to speak with students & faculty about the current programs and opportunities available at Miramar College. For more information please contact Miramar College Outreach at MiraOutreach@sdccd.edu. |
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Winter Break Paid Externships with SDWFP
Looking to gain paid work experience over winter school break this year? The San Diego Workforce Partnership (SDWP) is currently recruiting for their School Break Externship Program. They still have 80 spots available for high school and college students to work with a San Diego County employer over their school breaks. Externs will be paid $12 per hour for 22 hours of work and 12 hours of training over the course of their winter and/or spring breaks. Participants will also receive transportation and clothing assistance.
Eligibility Requirements:
In order to be eligible, participants must be age 16-24, low income (see income limits here), have a special housing situation, or be current or former foster youth.
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Free Event for the Whole Family!
It’s never too early to learn about career development! Barnes and Noble is hosting a free event on Thursday, November 21, 2019 at their Grossmont Center store. Students and their families will be able to learn more about the world of work by meeting professionals from the community and activities. Also, get a chance to win a raffle prize! Come by Grossmont Center’s Barnes and Noble (5500 Grossmont Center Drive, Suite 331) on Thursday, November 21 from 5:00-8:00 pm to participate in the fun learning event for all!
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Take Outdoor Exploration to the Next Level
San Diego is a beautiful place to explore the outdoors. Observing nature with your child helps them develop a relationship with their environment. An organization called iNaturalist is helping to improve that relationship by creating an app called Seek. Seek identifies the plants and animals around you and gives you information and fun facts about their species. You earn badges as you identify more species. It’s similar to Pokémon Go in that it gets you moving around outdoors, but it’s way better because it invites you to look up and observe the world around you. Learn more by visiting: https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/seek_app. |
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The Road to College Starts Here 11/20/2019
The Road to College Starts Here is an exciting adventure, with many twists and turns. Attend this middle school parent-student workshop and we will help you build a map of requirements, resources, and guidelines.
Where: De Portola Middle School-Weiner Hall.
Date: Wednesday 11/20/2019
Time: 6:00-7:30 p.m.
Subjects to be discussed: The parent role - College preparatory courses - High school graduation requirements - College entrance preparation - California university requirements - Financial aid planning/opportunities.
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